When was the last time you talked to someone and heard them say: “yeah, I really haven’t worked that much this week. The work I do is pretty easy and we don’t have long hours.”

Okay. We probably all have one friend who is like that. But for the most part, I think we are much more prone to dramatize our work. Have you noticed that, regardless of whether someone is working part-time or full-time, it rarely changes how they will talk about their work? Both will say they are “flooded with so much work” and that they “have a very tough schedule”.

I think, in general, it boils down to a pride issue. we just hate people thinking that we don’t work as hard as them.

Why do we talk about how much we work? Does it accomplish something important to tell your friends that you put in 80 hours of work this past week, or is it simply just an attempt to inflate your ego and assert dominance?

Obviously, some people just downright lie about how much time/work they’re putting in. I think this usually boils down to more of a shame thing than a pride thing (though one could argue these are just two sides to the same coin). People don’t want you to realize how lazy they really are, so they talk about all the “work” they did. But I’m not even talking about those people. I’m talking about the people who really are working long hours, but are constantly talking about all the work that they do and how much time they put in.

It seems to me, that these are rarely the people who are also creating real value in the work they do. When talking about how much time they put in, you hardly ever hear about what they accomplished in that time, you simply just hear that they spent the time working.

This has been something that I have tried to catch myself before doing many times. Maybe others are talking about their 50-hour week, and I just put in a 70 hour week working on a roof in the sun the whole time. Great! Good job me. Does it really add anything to tell them this though? Will they instantly respect you more because of this?

I think that the truth is, no one cares how much you work, they only care about others knowing how much they worked.

In contrast, people are often interested in things that you accomplish. Still, not everyone, but when you have tangible evidence and things that you’ve produced, people start to become more interested in listening to what you have to say.

So, my challenge to you would be, if you have to talk about what you’re doing, talk about what you have accomplished/added value to, instead of talking about the time you put in. I think this will give you a better perspective of what you are truly creating value in.

Your time doesn’t mean anything if you don’t produce results with it.